Most of success is just being there (for someone)
This week is on James 1:26-27:
These verses are all about love. People struggle so much to be righteous, or to be thought of as righteous, or to feel righteous. We brag about only eating vegetarian, about buying shirts that aren't made in sweatshops, about recycling, about buying only American products, about never having been in prison, and so on, but what does it really matter? People judge their righteousness by what version of the Bible they read, by how old their church denomination is, by how much they make, or don't make. People judge righteousness by what words people use to refer to their own race and to others. A lot of things pass for righteousness nowadays, enough even to be considered a new religion. The rules change, but people still live in the same bondage of competing for a worthless prize.
What does God value? Does he care if your tithe is exactly ten percent? Does he care what clothes you wear to church? Does he prefer you use special sensitive words to refer to Christians or sinners, or is it your heart that matters? Is your heart full of love, or is it choked with the satanic mathematics of self-righteousness?
James describes the thing that God considers pure and faultless to be "looking after widows and orphans in their distress." I wouldn't even know where to find widows and orphans nowadays, but the call for love is just as strong. In James' day, widows and orphans had nothing to offer. They were all cost and no benefit. What is a widow going to get you? She can't earn her own money in a society where most of the jobs were just for men. She probably has kids to raise, but again, no source of income. Nobody wants to marry her, because they don't want to raise someone else's kids instead of their own. Generally a widow is older, so she can't even help around the house all that much. Your food is scarce, because you live in an occupied territory and the occupiers take a heavy tax out of your economy. So, do you give money to the widow, knowing you'll get nothing in thanks but another outstretched hand, or do you build your own family, or buy something nice?
The orphan is a similar story. This is someone with no family to provide for their needs. Generally, if their family had any means at all, that orphan would be claimed. There is no political alliance to be made by taking in this orphan. He might even be cursed, if his family has disappeared. Would you take food out of your own kids' mouths to feed this kid? Typically, widows and orphans had to live on the street, sitting in the dust and begging for what food they could get. These aren't people who can provide for themselves. These are people with no way to provide, people with nobody in the world to love them.
That's what God calls us to do. It's the hardest job in the world, or someone else would already be doing it. We're supposed to love the unlovable, the desperate, needy, worthless, alien strangers. We're supposed to share what little we have in order to provide for their needs. We're God's representatives, and God's purest expression is to be a friend to someone who doesn't have one.
We're not supposed to waste our time on earth jumping through religion's fiery hoops. None of that stuff matters any further than it helps us to love others and be God's representatives. Don't get polluted by the world's religion. Focus on being truly pure and without fault, which is to do God's work in a world that hates Him.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
These verses are all about love. People struggle so much to be righteous, or to be thought of as righteous, or to feel righteous. We brag about only eating vegetarian, about buying shirts that aren't made in sweatshops, about recycling, about buying only American products, about never having been in prison, and so on, but what does it really matter? People judge their righteousness by what version of the Bible they read, by how old their church denomination is, by how much they make, or don't make. People judge righteousness by what words people use to refer to their own race and to others. A lot of things pass for righteousness nowadays, enough even to be considered a new religion. The rules change, but people still live in the same bondage of competing for a worthless prize.
What does God value? Does he care if your tithe is exactly ten percent? Does he care what clothes you wear to church? Does he prefer you use special sensitive words to refer to Christians or sinners, or is it your heart that matters? Is your heart full of love, or is it choked with the satanic mathematics of self-righteousness?
James describes the thing that God considers pure and faultless to be "looking after widows and orphans in their distress." I wouldn't even know where to find widows and orphans nowadays, but the call for love is just as strong. In James' day, widows and orphans had nothing to offer. They were all cost and no benefit. What is a widow going to get you? She can't earn her own money in a society where most of the jobs were just for men. She probably has kids to raise, but again, no source of income. Nobody wants to marry her, because they don't want to raise someone else's kids instead of their own. Generally a widow is older, so she can't even help around the house all that much. Your food is scarce, because you live in an occupied territory and the occupiers take a heavy tax out of your economy. So, do you give money to the widow, knowing you'll get nothing in thanks but another outstretched hand, or do you build your own family, or buy something nice?
The orphan is a similar story. This is someone with no family to provide for their needs. Generally, if their family had any means at all, that orphan would be claimed. There is no political alliance to be made by taking in this orphan. He might even be cursed, if his family has disappeared. Would you take food out of your own kids' mouths to feed this kid? Typically, widows and orphans had to live on the street, sitting in the dust and begging for what food they could get. These aren't people who can provide for themselves. These are people with no way to provide, people with nobody in the world to love them.
That's what God calls us to do. It's the hardest job in the world, or someone else would already be doing it. We're supposed to love the unlovable, the desperate, needy, worthless, alien strangers. We're supposed to share what little we have in order to provide for their needs. We're God's representatives, and God's purest expression is to be a friend to someone who doesn't have one.
We're not supposed to waste our time on earth jumping through religion's fiery hoops. None of that stuff matters any further than it helps us to love others and be God's representatives. Don't get polluted by the world's religion. Focus on being truly pure and without fault, which is to do God's work in a world that hates Him.
Comments
Post a Comment